Page 27 of The Summer That Changed Us

‘How did he die?’ Robyn asked softly. ‘If you don’t mind me asking?’

‘A massive heart attack.’ Grace shook her head as if she still couldn’t believe it. ‘He hadn’t had so much as a twinge in his chest before and then one day, his heart just stopped. He was out cycling at the time. The irony was that he was fitter then than he’d been for years.’

‘Why does life have to be so unfair?’ Katie said sadly.

‘Heaven knows.’ Grace lifted her shoulders. ‘My only comfort is that it all happened so quickly that he wouldn’t have known much about it. He’d been looking forward to retirement so much but then he only got a few weeks to enjoy it. Now I’m on my own again for the first time in seventeen years and I really want to ask his advice about something, but I can’t. So, you’re right, Katie, life is unfair.’

‘Can we help?’ Robyn fished a tissue from her pocket and handed it to Grace. ‘A problem shared is a problem halved.’

‘Or thirded in our case,’ Katie added.

Our case. Being part of something made Robyn feel warm inside. Katie was right; this really was therapeutic.

‘I’d like that.’ Grace sniffed and wiped her eyes. ‘But on one condition: if I’m baring my soul, you two are doing the same.’

‘That’s blackmail,’ Robyn smiled, already calculating what she was and wasn’t prepared to divulge to the other two. She wasn’t great at sharing her problems but maybe here, with semi-strangers, she’d find the courage to be as brave as Grace. ‘Katie? I’m in if you are?’

Katie had gone pale. ‘Um.’

‘Deal or no deal?’ Grace looked at them both.

‘Deal,’ said Robyn and Katie together.

‘OK, but this is a circle of trust,’ said Grace. ‘Nothing we say here gets repeated to anyone. Agreed?’

Grace put out her hand and the other two covered her hand with theirs.

‘Agreed,’ they chorused.

Robyn felt a bit like one of the three musketeers pledging allegiance to the other two and a fizz of anticipation bubbled up inside her; this was the start of something special, she could feel it in her bones.

Chapter Ten

The three women stared at each other, the sea air blowing around them. Katie held her breath, hoping they didn’t ask her to go first. But Grace broke the silence. ‘Shall I start?’

Katie nodded in relief. Her heart was thumping. She’d been on edge ever since receiving the second envelope yesterday. She’d been flip-flopping about confiding in Robyn and Grace and wondering whether, if the opportunity arose, she’d actually be brave enough to speak up. It wasn’t just about the actual envelopes; it was the fact that she’d have to relive the whole hideous backstory which had been consigned to the past. Once she told Grace and Robyn what had happened, it would be part of her present, there’d be no going back.

But then the two brown envelopes were already part of her present, whether she liked it or not. Blackmail. She shuddered. How much money would her blackmailers ask for and how much time would they give her to pay? It was all so seedy.

Last night, she’d even gone to the police station with the letters, but once she parked the car, she panicked, worried that whoever was behind it would somehow know what she was doing. So she’d driven off quickly and gone home, hands shaking and stomach in knots.

‘I’m probably going to sound like a wicked stepmother but here goes,’ Grace began.

‘A circle of trust,’ Katie reminded her, hoping they all stuck to it. The thought of everyone in town knowing her sordid story made her feel faint. ‘And absolutely no judgement.’

‘Shall we walk?’ Robyn suggested.

They headed along the tide line slowly, swinging their buckets, sea glass forgotten for the moment.

‘Myles’s grown-up children are contesting his will because they think they’ve been hard done by.’ Grace pulled a face. ‘It’s really upset me. It’s not the money that bothers me, it’s the implication that I’ve cheated them out of what’s theirs. Myles left them each a quarter of his estate, which is an awful lot of money for two people in their twenties.’

‘Wow,’ said Robyn, shaking her head. ‘They sound nice.’

Grace smiled weakly. ‘We always got on reasonably well, at least I thought we had. Now they’ve left our WhatsApp group chat and it feels like I’m losing even more of my old life.’

Katie’s heart ached for Grace. She knew how that felt. It had started with her best friend Rose turning her back on her; pretty soon her other friends had dwindled away too.

Their shoes crunched along the shingle and pebbles as Grace filled them in on the background. About how exhausting the last few months had been, coming to terms with her sudden bereavement at the same time as wrapping up Myles’s financial and legal affairs. How she’d hoped her time in Merle Bay would be a chance to mourn him and have a complete rest. She’d wanted to escape the demands from HMRC, the accountant, her solicitor and Myles’s children. But the saga seemed to have followed her regardless.